Andrew Marr said he did not want to ‘become a poster boy for stroke recovery’ but had made a documentary about his progress because it might help others.
Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

Andrew Marr’s marriage has become “better and warmer” following his stroke four years ago, but slow progress to recover movement on his left side means he is still unable to cook, cycle or tie his shoelaces.

The BBC presenter, who continues to host his eponymous Sunday morning show, said he was “very lucky” that his wife, columnist Jackie Ashley, had experience helping her deaf father, the Labour politician Jack Ashley, who died in 2012.

Andrew Marr says new stroke treatment brings 'subtle' improvements

Read more

“You might think she has the worst luck of all, having looked after her father, and then this happens to me. But she has been very good at shepherding me through the process,” he told the Radio Times.

Marr has confounded expectations that he would never walk again after being rushed to hospital with a torn carotid artery in 2013. With the help of a leg brace he is able to walk to work at New Broadcasting House or Westminster from Primrose Hill, where he moved from Richmond following the stroke, and continues to paint. However, he still works to hide the stroke’s impact when in front of the camera, and has had to abandon attempts to get about on a tricycle.

“They are less stable than you imagine. I have to have my left foot tied on to the pedal, and if you are tied to a tricycle when it goes over there’s nothing you can do about it,” he said. “I have on one occasion been rescued by the police.”

He said: “You have a kind of obligation to share your experience, particularly if it’s positive, and is going to encourage other people.”

During the interview, Marr also rejected claims he is soft on guests, pointing to his ability to generate news stories as evidence his approach works.

“I think my job is to get the person in the studio to say the most interesting thing that he or she can say on the big subjects on that day. I think you get that by being polite.”

Marr was criticised for interviewing the French Front National leader, Marine Le Pen, in an edition of his show broadcast on Remembrance Sunday last year. The show was cleared by regulator Ofcom, which said it had contained “appropriate challenges” to Le Pen’s views.